Preconfigured hidden service

JT toruser at fastmail.fm
Fri Mar 23 10:11:47 UTC 2007


Hi,

is it possible to have a preconfigured hidden service in Tor as I2P has?
After installing I2P all a user has to do is put html files in the
htdocs folder and he is ready to go. He can look up the URL of this
website easily.

Every noob can host a hidden eepsite. Is something like this planned for
Tor?
An simple, secure webserver preconfigured to only listen to 127.0.0 and
ready to go? The average user(at least the ones I talk to) barely
manages to set up Tor. Some people are even to computer illiterate to
click on the onion symbol and choose "start Tor" any yet we need those
people in the user base(more distributed trust).

I know the programmer's power of the Tor project is limited (due to the
number of programmers) and not everything can be implemented at the same
time. And this is not a complaint. I love to participate in political
discussions an be able to talk freely and without having to worry about
being threatened threatened afterwards. I am very greatful for Tor. The
technical side of Tor is already very advanced but all the attacks
published in the last months were possible because the usability side of
Tor is still lacking a lot. I know it is a common problem for everybody
in the IT field to assume that the users of the IT have the same
knowledge as the creators but this is not even remotely true. Yes smart
project attract also smart users but what about the other 80%? What
about the 80-20 rule? :)

If Tor wants to be a hidden free internet within the internet it must
provide a one click service to host a website like I2P.

Journalists that work in Sudan, Iraq, Burma, Cuba, Russia or many, many
other countries need something that works right away. Not every
journalist can go to college and learn how to set up an apache server
and configure it. A standard installation should be able to host html
only. Tor could learn from I2P. Computer experts can then change the
settings to host php, etc also.

I think such a thing would spread like wildfire and the Tor user base
would explode. Lots of people want to host their own sites and they
would with a one click installation of a hidden service web server.

I really wish I could help with programming and not only making
suggestions.

Long live Tor!!

:)
-- 
  JT
  toruser at fastmail.fm

-- 
http://www.fastmail.fm - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an
                          unladen european swallow



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